Trade deficits don’t matter in this scenario.
The debt was X
The GDP/income was Y
Where Y comes from is unimportant.
Granted money coming in from outside sources means more money is coming in to our economy, but the debt to income ratio was still to high.
GDP measure the total productivity of the nation.
Ratio wise, more of our national productivity was going to service debt.
Can’t disagree with any of that. However, after the war the nation was like a college graduate with a hugh student loan to pay off but who had more work than he could handle and could pretty much name his price. Now we are like a modern college graduate, with that same student loan, and darn few jobs to be had that pay any real money.
A lot of things are the same, but a lot of things are different - in ways that matter a LOT.
Did I say “Hugh”? :-D